Abstract

The clinical symptoms of diminished thyroid activity in their classical form, during infancy and childhood, are too well known to bear repetition. One of the most important problems in the care and treatment of congenital or acquired hypothyroidism during childhood is early recognition. It is reasonable to assume that the longer treatment is delayed, the less opportunity there is of attaining the most desirable therapeutic result. Until recent years, physical signs, clinical symptoms, and basal metabolism determinations were the most important methods of establishing the diagnosis of hypothyroidism.

In infants and children, the characteristic physical appearance, subnormal temperature, retardation of